Northern Irelands Top Young Chess Talent
This month saw trophies for first and second place for each year - many thanks to an anonymous benefactor. All these tournaments are run with volunteers giving freely of their time. The entrance fees going to the cost of the hire of the room. These have become the most prestigious tournaments in Northern Ireland, run jointly by the Ulster Schools Chess Council and the Ulster Chess Union. They have been running since 2002, and there is a Grandprix system running for the series when the top players will get invited to play in an Elite tournament at Stormont in June. Open to all young players of any ability. It provides an opportunity for primary players to play when they don't necessarily have a school club. Players get informal coaching and an occasional talk by previous Ulster Champions and top players. Also to encourage Chess thinking and problem solving each tournament has a Chess Puzzle solving competition where youngsters each get 20 puzzles to solve - they hand these in and after marking certificates are assigned and sheets get returned. This tournament I gave clues to several of the students who then went on to see the moves. The solutions are sometimes very elegant and its an exercise that's both enjoyable and good for your chess.
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1. White to mate in 2 Solutions at end of this article. |
2. White to mate in 2 |
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With two sections the secondary students played 7 rounds with 15mins each on the clock. The Primary students played two tournaments initially the main tournament of 6 rounds. Interestingly we had 7 players that could have meant a 7 round all-play-all but with the flexibility of a swiss and the possibility that we might get some late entries I setup the tournament as a swiss. Which meant when we got to round 6 the system couldn't do a legal draw. So we did a manual one. With the last round finished and some time available Geoff Hindley (Ulster Chess Union President) ran an all-play-all Battle Chess tournament. A fun game that allows youngsters to practice their endgames.
The Puzzle solving competition. The Primary Winner was Pheobe Pattterson closely followed by her younger brother Calvin.
| Name | Year | Points |
| Patterson, Pheobe | P6 | 15 |
| Patterson, Calvin | P3 | 14 |
| Monahan, Daithi | P6 | 13 |
| Dawson, Heidi | P7 | 8 |
| Geraghty, Leon | P6 | 8 |
| Glendinning, Calum | P6 | 8 |
The Secondary winner was Andrew Todd, with Jake Patterson second.
| Name | Year | Points |
| Todd, Andrew | L6 | 19 |
| Patterson, Jake | F5 | 17 |
| Dawson, John | L6 | 16 |
| Murrary, Scott | F5 | 13 |
| Brown, Cameron | F2 | 12 |
| Trimble, Samuel | L6 | 8 |
| Byrne, Nathan | F1 | 6 |
| Edwards, Owen | F3 | 6 |
| Kane, James | F1 | 5 |
The Secondary School section has a good mix of ages and skills. With top player Eoin McCorkindale battling to maintain his winning sequence having won the last three tournaments. Would the chasing players of John Dawson, Andrew Todd and Jake Patterson be able to beat him? Photos and results below.
Secondary School Tournament
Round 1
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Cameron Brown F2 [0] 1:0 Patrick McGurnaghan F4 [0] 2 Scott Murrary F5 [0] 1:0 Nathan Byrne F1 [0] 3 John Dawson L6 [0] 1:0 Jake Patterson F5 [0] 4 Hannah Patterson F3 [0] 1:0 Owen Edwards F3 [0] 5 Matthew Gray F5 [0] 1:0 Caleb Quigley F2 [0] 6 Andrew Todd L6 [0] 1:0 Edward Hanzharov F4 [0] 7 James Kane F1 [0] 0:1 Peter Todd F1 [0] 8 Samuel Todd F3 [0] 0:1 Eoin McCorkindale F5 [0] 9 Samuel Trimble L6 [0] 1:0 BYE
by Swiss Perfect (TM) www.swissperfect.com
Round 2
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Scott Murrary F5 [1] .5:.5 Cameron Brown F2 [1] 2 Peter Todd F1 [1] 0:1 John Dawson L6 [1] 3 Samuel Trimble L6 [1] 1:0 Matthew Gray F5 [1] 4 Eoin McCorkindale F5 [1] 1:0 Hannah Patterson F3 [1] 5 Nathan Byrne F1 [0] 0:1 Andrew Todd L6 [1] 6 Owen Edwards F3 [0] 1:0 Patrick McGurnaghan F4 [0] 7 Edward Hanzharov F4 [0] .5:.5 Jake Patterson F5 [0] 8 Caleb Quigley F2 [0] 0:1 James Kane F1 [0] 9 Samuel Todd F3 [0] 1:0 BYE
Round 3
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 John Dawson L6 [2] 1:0 Samuel Trimble L6 [2] 2 Andrew Todd L6 [2] 0:1 Eoin McCorkindale F5 [2] 3 Cameron Brown F2 [1.5] 1:0 Owen Edwards F3 [1] 4 Matthew Gray F5 [1] 1:0 Scott Murrary F5 [1.5] 5 James Kane F1 [1] 0:1 Samuel Todd F3 [1] 6 Hannah Patterson F3 [1] 0:1 Peter Todd F1 [1] 7 Jake Patterson F5 [.5] 1:0 Nathan Byrne F1 [0] 8 Patrick McGurnaghan F4 [0] 0:1 Edward Hanzharov F4 [.5] 9 Caleb Quigley F2 [0] 1:0 BYE
Round 4
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Eoin McCorkindale F5 [3] .5:.5 John Dawson L6 [3] 2 Peter Todd F1 [2] 1:0 Cameron Brown F2 [2.5] 3 Samuel Todd F3 [2] 1:0 Matthew Gray F5 [2] 4 Samuel Trimble L6 [2] 0:1 Andrew Todd L6 [2] 5 Edward Hanzharov F4 [1.5] 1:0 Scott Murrary F5 [1.5] 6 Jake Patterson F5 [1.5] 1:0 James Kane F1 [1] 7 Owen Edwards F3 [1] 1:0 Caleb Quigley F2 [1] 8 Nathan Byrne F1 [0] 0:1 Hannah Patterson F3 [1] 9 Patrick McGurnaghan F4 [0] 1:0 BYE
Round 5
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 John Dawson L6 [3.5] 1:0 Samuel Todd F3 [3] 2 Peter Todd F1 [3] 0:1 Eoin McCorkindale F5 [3.5] 3 Andrew Todd L6 [3] 1:0 Jake Patterson F5 [2.5] 4 Cameron Brown F2 [2.5] 0:1 Edward Hanzharov F4 [2.5] 5 Matthew Gray F5 [2] 0:1 Owen Edwards F3 [2] 6 Hannah Patterson F3 [2] 1:0 Samuel Trimble L6 [2] 7 Scott Murrary F5 [1.5] 1:0 Caleb Quigley F2 [1] 8 Patrick McGurnaghan F4 [1] 1:0 James Kane F1 [1] 9 Nathan Byrne F1 [0] 1:0 BYE
Round 6
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Andrew Todd L6 [4] 1:0 John Dawson L6 [4.5] 2 Eoin McCorkindale F5 [4.5] 1:0 Edward Hanzharov F4 [3.5] 3 Owen Edwards F3 [3] 0:1 Peter Todd F1 [3] 4 Samuel Todd F3 [3] 1:0 Hannah Patterson F3 [3] 5 Jake Patterson F5 [2.5] 1:0 Scott Murrary F5 [2.5] 6 Matthew Gray F5 [2] 0:1 Cameron Brown F2 [2.5] 7 Samuel Trimble L6 [2] 1:0 Patrick McGurnaghan F4 [2] 8 Caleb Quigley F2 [1] 0:1 Nathan Byrne F1 [1] 9 James Kane F1 [1] 1:0 BYE
Round 7
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Eoin McCorkindale F5 [5.5] 0:1 Jake Patterson F5 [3.5] 2 Peter Todd F1 [4] 0:1 Andrew Todd L6 [5] 3 John Dawson L6 [4.5] 1:0 Owen Edwards F3 [3] 4 Edward Hanzharov F4 [3.5] .5:.5 Samuel Todd F3 [4] 5 Hannah Patterson F3 [3] 1:0 Matthew Gray F5 [2] 6 Cameron Brown F2 [3.5] 0:1 Samuel Trimble L6 [3] 7 James Kane F1 [2] 1:0 Nathan Byrne F1 [2] 8 Patrick McGurnaghan F4 [2] 1:0 Caleb Quigley F2 [1] 9 Scott Murrary F5 [2.5] 1:0 BYE
Standings
Standings
Place Name Feder Score
1 Todd, Andrew L6 6
2-3 McCorkindale, Eoin F5 5.5
Dawson, John L6 5.5
4-5 Patterson, Jake F5 4.5
Todd, Samuel F3 4.5
6-9 Todd, Peter F1 4
Hanzharov, Edward F4 4
Trimble, Samuel L6 4
Patterson, Hannah F3 4
10-11 Brown, Cameron F2 3.5
Murrary, Scott F5 3.5
12-14 Edwards, Owen F3 3
McGurnaghan, Patrick F4 3
Kane, James F1 3
15-16 Byrne, Nathan F1 2
Gray, Matthew F5 2
17 Quigley, Caleb F2 1
Andrew Todd does brilliantly to win the tournament. Followed closely by Eoin McCorkindale and John Dawson.
The enthusiasm of the younger players is brilliant, they play chess all afternoon. There's good friendly group of players. This month saw a few new faces.
The two people to beat are Calvin and Pheobe Patterson who have alternated the winning of this tournament each month. Both winning 2 of the 4 tournaments. Full results and photos follow:
Primary School Tournament
Round 1
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Heidi Dawson P7 [0] 1:0 Andrews Lloyd P7 [0] 2 Daithi Monahan P6 [0] 1:0 Leon Geraghty P6 [0] 3 Calum Glendinning P6 [0] 0:1 Calvin Patterson P3 [0] 4 Pheobe Patterson P6 [0] 1:0 BYE
Round 2
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Calvin Patterson P3 [1] 1:0 Heidi Dawson P7 [1] 2 Pheobe Patterson P6 [1] 1:0 Daithi Monahan P6 [1] 3 Leon Geraghty P6 [0] 0:1 Calum Glendinning P6 [0] 4 Andrews Lloyd P7 [0] 1:0 BYE
Round 3
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Calvin Patterson P3 [2] 1:0 Pheobe Patterson P6 [2] 2 Heidi Dawson P7 [1] 1:0 Daithi Monahan P6 [1] 3 Andrews Lloyd P7 [1] 0:1 Calum Glendinning P6 [1] 4 Leon Geraghty P6 [0] 0:1 BYE
Round 4
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Leon Geraghty P6 [0] 0:1 Calvin Patterson P3 [3] 2 Calum Glendinning P6 [2] 1:0 Heidi Dawson P7 [2] 3 Pheobe Patterson P6 [2] 1:0 Andrews Lloyd P7 [1] 4 Daithi Monahan P6 [1] 1:0 BYE
Round 5
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Daithi Monahan P6 [2] 0:1 Calvin Patterson P3 [4] 2 Calum Glendinning P6 [3] 0:1 Pheobe Patterson P6 [3] 3 Andrews Lloyd P7 [1] .5:.5 Leon Geraghty P6 [0] 4 Heidi Dawson P7 [2] 1:0 BYE
Round 6
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Heidi Dawson P7 [3] 0:1 Pheobe Patterson P6 [4] 2 Daithi Monahan P6 [2] 0:1 Calum Glendinning P6 [3] 3 Leon Geraghty P6 [.5] 0:1 Calvin Patterson P3 [5]
Standings
Standings
Place Name Feder Score 1 Patterson, Calvin P3 6 2 Patterson, Pheobe P6 5 3 Glendinning, Calum P6 4 4 Dawson, Heidi P7 3 5 Monahan, Daithi P6 2 6 Lloyd, Andrews P7 1.5 7 Geraghty, Leon P6 0.5
Calvin with a full score of 6 out of 6 followed by Pheobe who's one loss was to Calvin.
Battle Chess Round 1
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Heidi Dawson P7 [0] 1:0 Daithi Monahan P6 [0] 2 Calvin Patterson P3 [0] 1:0 Calum Glendinning P6 [0] 3 Pheobe Patterson P6 [0] 1:0 Leon Geraghty P6 [0]
Battle Chess - Round 2
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Daithi Monahan P6 [0] 1:0 Leon Geraghty P6 [0] 2 Calum Glendinning P6 [0] .5:.5 Pheobe Patterson P6 [1] 3 Heidi Dawson P7 [1] 0:1 Calvin Patterson P3 [1]
Battle Chess - Round 3
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Calvin Patterson P3 [2] 0:1 Daithi Monahan P6 [1] 2 Pheobe Patterson P6 [1.5] 0:1 Heidi Dawson P7 [1] 3 Leon Geraghty P6 [0] 0:1 Calum Glendinning P6 [.5]
Battle Chess - Round 4
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Daithi Monahan P6 [2] 1:0 Calum Glendinning P6 [1.5] 2 Heidi Dawson P7 [2] 0:1 Leon Geraghty P6 [0] 3 Calvin Patterson P3 [2] 0:1 Pheobe Patterson P6 [1.5]
Battle Chess - Round 5
Results
No Name Feder Total Result Name Feder Total 1 Pheobe Patterson P6 [2.5] 1:0 Daithi Monahan P6 [3] 2 Leon Geraghty P6 [1] 0:1 Calvin Patterson P3 [2] 3 Calum Glendinning P6 [1.5] 1:0 Heidi Dawson P7 [2]
Battle Chess
Standings
Place Name Feder Score
1 Patterson, Pheobe P6 3.5
2-3 Monahan, Daithi P6 3
Patterson, Calvin P3 3
4 Glendinning, Calum P6 2.5
5 Dawson, Heidi P7 2
6 Geraghty, Leon P6 1
Pheobe Patterson won the Battle Chess with Daithi Monahan a new player sharing second with Calvin.
The next tournament is on April 18th: full details see you there...
Puzzle Solutions:
Problem 1: 1. Qa1 (threatening Qa8) if QxQ 2. Nxc6#
Problem 2: 1. Qd8 KxQ 2. Ne6# or 1.Qd8 Kb8 2. Nc6#
